The present invention relates to a device for dividing dough provided with a dough funnel, a division slide for closing off the bottom opening of the dough funnel which slide can move to and fro, a piston for moving dough which piston can move to and fro situated below the division slide, a measuring chamber which can move up and down with at least two measuring spaces for receiving the dough moved by the movable piston which spaces are situated next to each other and separated from each other by a partition, the measuring chamber being movable to a bottom position and having a measuring chamber bottom and measuring pistons for pushing the pieces of dough out of the measuring spaces, and a knife for scraping the pieces of dough from the measuring piston.
In known devices for dividing dough of the kind described above it is desirable to design the partitions between the measuring spaces as thin as possible, as not only the filling of the measuring spaces with dough can take place with relatively little pressure and thus a more dough friendly treatment, which improves the final product, is provided, but also a high accuracy of the quantity and the weight of the pieces of dough can be obtained. As a result of the small distance between the adjacent measuring spaces it may however occur that the pieces of dough pushed out of the measuring spaces contact each other and stick together, which has a detrimental effect on the further course of the dough treatment.
In order to solve this problem of pieces of dough pushed out of the measuring space sticking together, a device is described in German Patent specification 474.276 in which pieces of dough are not pushed out of the measuring spaces simultaneously, but with such a time difference that the problem of sticking together no longer occurs. Not only is a complicated construction needed to that end, but the number of pieces of dough supplied per time unit is also reduced. Additionally from the German Auslegeschrift 1.258.811 a device for dividing dough is known provided with a casting roll, in which the casting roll is provided with sub areas with a different shape belonging to the different measuring spaces, as a result of which each piece of dough simultaneously pushed out in relation to the other pieces of dough performs a different casting movement, so that the problem of sticking together does not occur. This additional casting roll does not only require regular extra cleansing and servicing but in some embodiments does not cast the pieces of dough on a conveyor belt in a position which is optimal for further dough treatment.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a device for dividing dough in which the number of pieces of dough delivered per time unit is relatively large, in which no detrimental extra servicing is necessary and in which the further dough treatment is not by detrimentally affected.
To that end a device of the kind described above according to the invention is characterized in that the device is provided with a number of sprinklers, the number at least being equal to the number of partitions, for sprinkling liquid on parts of the pieces of dough facing each other that are pushed out of the measuring spaces. Because the sprinklers sprinkle liquid on the parts of pieces of dough facing each other that are pushed out of the measuring spaces, the pieces of dough contacting each other do not or hardly stick together, depending on the kind of liquid used. So the pieces of dough can be pushed out of the measuring spaces simultaneously, as a result of which the capacity is not detrimentally affected, in which also the sprinklers in comparison to the other parts of the device require no extra servicing. Moreover the sprinklers can be arranged in a simple manner in existing devices for dividing dough.
In order to keep the device for dividing dough compact a sprinkler is integrated in each partition. Alternatively or additionally at least a part of the sprinklers is integrated in the knife.
Although the sprinklers may sprinkle foodstuff friendly oil as liquid, it appeared that when the sprinklers are water sprinklers a sufficient degree of not sticking together of the pieces of dough is already obtained, in which the water used by the sprinklers is relatively cheap.